Barrenlands: An Odyssey (Old Work)

Chapter Three.

1

BY the light of the waxing moon that crept across the starry night sky, the Engineer had learnt a lot of intimate facts about the previous world that remained out of her knowledge. These facts, though ridiculously far-fetched and unheard of, seemed to align with those that Elders and fathers of the past had sung true in their tellings. There was once a time that people drove luxury automobiles that ran on oil, there was once a time that the world was covered in lush forests and roaring waterfalls, and there once was a time that resources were abundant and dirt cheap. Though its mind entranced and captured by the stories, the Engineer also contained a devil's bone filled with scepticism in her body. The stories – the memories – of the young girl were undeniably captivating none the least however, how did she still come to be in existence to speak about these very things? By the never ending time gap between the fatal boom and the girl's age, she should have been well into her teenage years by now or perhaps in the early twenties...

The Engineer dropped back its hands, and rested its weight onto them. Its palms were quick to sink into the soft sand, the warmth a somewhat welcome touch to its fingertips. Flicking its tongue against the top of its mouth, the Engineer parted its lips and asked but a few words. "How did you come to survive and emerge into the wastelands? All your kind are gone."

The little girl looked down at her filthy hands, flipped them over and traced the spider-like veins to take her mind away from the reality which she now faced. It was brutal and a harsh realisation which she still appeared to struggle with on a daily basis. Her voice dropped far below what had been, and the Engineer had to concentrate on her moving lips to hear proper. "All I remember is that me mum hid me in a den and by the time I crawled out, I came to this. There was a giant wave..." She shrugged her shoulders and shuddered at the thought, and her back became even further bowed down towards the sand. It was clear that she was tainted from memories past.

But to the Engineer, the days and years didn't add up and there was a sort of misalignment between timelines. The wastelands had existed for years making the single day she remembered somewhat laughable. And yet here she was, sitting in front of the exhausted drifter in her words, in the body of a little girl. Curiously and somewhat puzzled, the Engineer asked yet another question. "How long ago did the boom pass?"

"Yesterday."

The Engineer drew a deep breath, easily mistakable as a low chuckle from the stomach. Ho-ho, had the child been playing it the fool all this time? Could it be that the child was in fact a mutant that had seized the body of the girl and lead her to be possessed? Tainted? It may have been a logical assumption, and would be logical reasoning to some of the tall-tales. "You lie through your teeth. I've been navigating these lands for far beyond that, and never have I come across a civilisation of so you speak. What make you of that?"

"Drifter, the sun had set once since you came through the outpost. This is the second. That counts as a single day in my book." There was innocence in her voice; innocence that was genuine without a tinge of guilt. It would have been difficult to mimic such sincerity. The Engineer bit its lips at the realisation, and tipped its head back to face the heavens. A dull aching pain started to creep into its mind and threatened to take over the sanity that was left for the evening. The wanderer lifted a hand to its forehead to ease the tensioned trouble spot, the pressure of its finger tips already subduing some of the pain. With the other, it grabbed at its water container and took a small sip.

"You look pained," the little girl commented fearfully. Her eyes shined in the moonlight like small beetles, the large shining disc a prick of a reflection. The Engineer was quick to notice the unconscious body language – the sudden muscle tensing, and the scrambling of her feet underneath her body. She would jump to her legs and scream monster at the very moment things destined further up shit creek without the elusive paddle. And that could prove dangerous; luring whatever may be lurking around them. A sudden flash of white blinded the Engineer, and the pain ran like a bullet train through his mind. This scale was like nothing it had ever experienced before. The white assault on its mind was followed by yet another flash although this time, the wanderer could hear a voice. A woman's voice. The words were warbled far beyond any reasonable comprehension, the tone dancing to high and low notes.

"Ain't hear that, did you?"

The little girl shook her head fearfully, her knees tucked up close to her chin and her body wrapped into a tight, rocking ball. She pushed herself back and forward, back and forward, on her bum. "Drifter, where did you come from?"

2

"Remember much I don't," the Engineer began. Not knowing how much to trust the little girl from the outpost, the wanderer was hesitant of personal details that may prove condemning at times of judgement. How much damage the little girl could actually do wasn't known however, it didn't want to take the risks associated nor have it turned onto it as a weakness. Words could turn into weapons almost instantly. The Engineer sifted through its mind, cautiously eyeing its company sitting in front of it. "I have vague recollection of memories from before the boom but they are quite distant. And then I awoke one day, and started my search through these barren lands. Throughout the better half of a decade that my journey goes so far, I have yet to find another human so intact and untainted."

"What are you searching for Drifter?"

It was a curious question, one that had an answer that lain deep within the Engineers heart. Speaking slowly, the Engineer provided a brief response although the reality as much, much more complex. "I am searching for the causation to the effect. And to find a way to restore what once was. An ambitious quest, say ye, one worthy for scholars and em."

There was a pause as the little girl mulled over the words that had just pierced the night atmosphere around them. There was an echoing howl in the distance that drifted over the landscape, instilling a chill into the back of the little girl. The mutants were out on the prowl this fine evening. But it didn't sway her much, and nor did it sway her from stopping the next question. "Are you a human? I don't know with that head covering that you wear all the time. For all I know, you could be having me."

Silently, the Engineer lifted the latch of the elastic strap that held the head cover into place, and the dust-filled cloth unravelled like fluid and dropped away from its body. A small cloud of dust rose into the sky as the material hit the sand, but it was quick to settle in the stillness. The Engineer could feel its long hair fall to the sides of its head, catching on her shoulders. The breeze that blew around them caught a small tendril of her locks which buffeted and danced in the draft, a wisp that made the Little Girls jaw drop automatically, so far it nearly hit the earth.

"How could this be?"

It was a question that stymied both of them to their cores, a question which - as of yet - had no answer.

3

The next days passed quickly yet not another word had been exchanged amongst them both. The long days had turned into pleasant nights, and the Little Girl had eventuated into a faithful companion, shadowing the Engineer in each of her waking and shadowed steps.